Shell Asset Management Co. Has $7.08 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Shell Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 94.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,922 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,896 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.22.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 293,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $192.90 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.68, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $177.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.